New Leopard Toby!

[SaltySteve]

I finally pulled the trigger on a Leopard Toby- Canthigaster leoparda from Live Aquaria's Divers Den.
There is barely any information on these guys- so I decided to start a thread on my experience.

I got him in the mail yesterday and used drip acclimation- also have been keeping my Kessil on 5-10% to help him feel more comfortable. (I've read that these are a somewhat deep-water species that hang around steep drop-offs, and am a little concerned about light intensity for the future).

I already witnessed him eating thawed brine shrimp (thank god), he spends most of his time staying close to the live rock and seems to be scoping out anything that looks like food (also witnessed him nip at a small feather duster). Time will tell how "reef safe" he is, but I'm willing to take a hit on some reef inhabitants given how interesting/inquisitive he is!

I've ordered some macro algae (red Gracilia and another red macro) to see if he may pick at those as well. So far so good, no aggression shown to tank mates, and tank mates show no aggression to him/her. Does anybody have experience with these? Any tips or suggestions for feeding/care are appreciated.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Empress]

That doesn't look like a QT to me. Hope you're feeling lucky. Otherwise he's a cutie.

 

[SaltySteve]

You're right I definitely am taking a chance with that, I'm feeling lucky lol.

 

[Jason mack]

What a beautiful fish !! I hope you have succes with him .. Am following !!!

 

[jp_75]

are they reef safe? beautiful fish btw!

 

[SaltySteve]

Thank you! I have no idea how reef-safe they are, I will update on how it goes in my case. The leopards have been touted as "likely more reef-safe", maybe due to their smaller size and small mouth not being able to do as much damage/ not go after bigger inverts.

He is with a skunk cleaner shrimp, few small hermits, turbo snails, brittle star, SPS, and mixed LPS corals. Also 2 Ocellaris, a Saphire Damsel, a Yellow Watchman Goby, and a Starry Blenny. The tank is a 60 gallon cube with a 10 gallon sump.

 

[revhtree]

Cutie!

 

[paphater]

Cutie!

Subscribed! I've got a valentini and would love to get another type when I upgrade tanks.

 

[SaltySteve]

Just an update on the leopard toby- he really took to brine shrimp mixed with a "seafood gumbo" coral food (has scallop and various other invert eggs in it). He is very forward all of the sudden and even likes to nip at the food coming from the pipet I use to feed. Still hasn't bothered any coral or inverts, and now he is always out in front of the tank seemingly begging to be fed . I can't get over his facial "expressions" and personality, awesome fish! Sorry for the quality of the pictures- I plan on upgrading my phone soon.

I was very close to getting a Valentini myself, they are great.

 

[Eva Rose]

Adorable puffer! What is the brand name your "seafood gumbo" coral food?

 

[SaltySteve]

Thanks! He is now officially comfortable in the tank and eating like a pig lol. It's Hikari Coral Gumbo, I put one cube of that plus three cubes of brine shrimp and a sliver of garlic in a tub, thaw, mix, then re-freezed it.

 

[leahfiish]

How is he doing?
Do you gave any Feather dusters, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, or urchins with him? Any problems with nipping at any corals?

 

[Eva Rose]

He is so cute! Does he eat nori as well?

 

[Empress]

Did ya name him Gumbo? [emoji12]

 

[SaltySteve]

Haha, he is very cute indeed. I haven't tried feeding him nori- I should try though. I've noticed him picking bits of algae off of live rock. Gumbo is a good name lol, he is currently nameless and that's a great contender!

 

[SaltySteve]

He is settling in great and went from eating only frozen mysis to eating just about anything I offer him (loves New Life Spectrum Marine pellets). Only thing is he came with parasites, I just dosed Prazipro and witnessed him expel an intestinal worm- I have another thread regarding that on here. (Empress, you have warned me and I am now kicking myself in the butt!)

He hasn't touched or shown any interest in my corals, fish, snails, or hermits. I don't have any urchins in the tank but do have a very small bubble anemone that he ignores, he definitely does pick at smaller feather dusters but I don't have any large ones in the tank. He spends a lot of the day in a vertical position scoping out and picking at the live rock- I'm still not entirely sure what he's hunting for.

 

[Empress]

He is settling in great and went from eating only frozen mysis to eating just about anything I offer him (loves New Life Spectrum Marine pellets). Only thing is he came with parasites, I just dosed Prazipro and witnessed him expel an intestinal worm- I have another thread regarding that on here. (Empress, you have warned me and I am now kicking myself in the butt!)

He hasn't touched or shown any interest in my corals, fish, snails, or hermits. I don't have any urchins in the tank but do have a very small bubble anemone that he ignores, he definitely does pick at smaller feather dusters but I don't have any large ones in the tank. He spends a lot of the day in a vertical position scoping out and picking at the live rock- I'm still not entirely sure what he's hunting for.

I'll tell you what....you get Gumbo out of that tank and into quarantine and treat accordingly, then I won't kick your butt!! He's too cute to lose. Switch on over to the fish disease section if you haven't already done so. He's probably hunting for live food. Good luck.

 

[Empress]

Is he expelling white stringy poop? If so I don't think Prazi works on that. Prazi is for external worms(flukes).

Metro is what you need for internal parasites.

 

[Eva Rose]

As Empress said, you can get him into quarantine & post in disease forum. Then ask @Humblefish or @melypr1985 how to treat him. Describe his symptoms and they can give you meds, treatment protocol. Keep us posted!

 

[Humblefish]

Is he expelling white stringy poop? If so I don't think Prazi works on that. Prazi is for external worms(flukes).

Metro is what you need for internal parasites.

^^ This. Need to know if he's expelling white stringy poop.